For almost 54 years, Jean Singletary has lived in the same Weiser Court apartment at Pioneer Homes. Singletary settled in that Syracuse public housing complex in the 1950s, not long after she moved here from her childhood home in Georgia.

Friday, she'll be among hundreds of men and women to gather at the Nicholas J. Pirro Convention Center at Oncenter to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Syracuse Housing Authority. In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the contract that made Pioneer Homes one of the first public housing initiatives in the nation; the creation of the housing authority soon followed.

Singletary said she's never felt any overwhelming reason to leave Weiser Court. She's grown close to generations of her neighbors. She emphasized that point Wednesday by embracing a young man who had opened her screened front door:

"I'm so proud of him," Singletary said of Jameel Rahim Shareef. "He's turned out to be all the things that he can be."

Jameel and his mother, Tina Shareef, will also be at the Oncenter. They know the crowd will include Singletary, a neighbor who's an institution on their court, and several other longtime Pioneer Homes residents who have lived there for more than a half-century.

Yet Jameel, at 21, symbolizes generational hope. His maternal grandmother came to Syracuse, in the 1950s, from South Carolina. She moved into the public housing known officially as Central Village, but often called The Bricks. Years later, Jameel was born when Tina lived at Pioneer Homes. She moved for a time with her children to a different neighborhood, but she returned when Jameel was 7 and his sister, Yonika White, was 13.

Throughout his years in city schools, Jameel earned the respect of his teachers. "He's spontaneous, a go-getter, an independent learner who makes no excuses," said Joyce Suslovic, who teaches social studies at Henninger High School. "He's the kind of person who embraces anyone who comes into his path."

That self-confidence was reinforced at Pioneer Homes, where Jameel was awarded a "Steam Plant Scholarship" to Syracuse University. Bill Simmons, the housing authority's executive director, said the annual academic award covers SU tuition for a young person from public housing.

In Jameel's case, managers of a neighborhood cogeneration steam plant that produces heat for SU were so impressed they gave him the scholarship and a part-time job, throughout college. Higher education, Jameel said, was always a priority: While his parents separated when he was young, he said both Tina and his father, Abdul Shareef, were determined that he'd earn a degree.

Tina Shareef at the door of Jean Singletary, the longtime Pioneer Homes neighbor she calls 'Miss Jean.' Singletary has lived in the same unit since 1960.Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com

Jameel recall times when his studies were a struggle. But he said his mother, who survived breast cancer when he was a teen, never allowed him to skip out on his homework.

"She'd always say, 'Don't settle, keep working,'" Jameel said.

Syracuse University is only a short walk up the hill from Pioneer Homes - a climb that for too many youngsters seems beyond all hope.

Jameel did it. He sees no reason why one world can't meet the other.

He doesn't mythologize life at Pioneer Homes, where young people inevitably confront the realities of city streets. Yet Jameel speaks with appreciation of neighbors who did their best to shelter him. He remembers one man named Rasheed, the father of a friend. When Rasheed would take his own son to shoot baskets, he'd bring along Jameel. The older man taught the boys how to shoot a layup.

"We connected," Jameel said of Rasheed, who eventually died -- all too young -- of heart problems.

Jameel never forgot such high expectations. When he was 13, a teenager approached him on the sidewalk, not far from home. Jameel can tell you where it happened, the spot where he was standing. The older boy made what might be called an offer within an offer.

Hang out with him and his friends, he said, and there'd be parties, a little money, the company of pretty girls.

Nothing beyond that, but all it meant was understood. At the moment of choice, Jameel quietly said "No, thanks."

Next month, he'll graduate from Syracuse University.

Tina Shareef on Living at Pioneer Homes and Parenting.Tina Shareef gives her views on living in Pioneer Homes in Syracuse and parenting. Her son Jameel Rahim Shareef is an extraordinary kid who grew up in Pioneer Homes, has a scholarship to Syracuse University that required working in the steam plant. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com

"Walking around now, I'll see old friends, people I've known, and they high-five me," Jameel said. "The people who saw me grow up, they've been my supporting cast."

His favorite memories of Pioneer Homes involve summer evenings in front of the apartment: He and his buddies would be out there playing football, while the neighbors -- safe and familiar faces -- would wander in and out of their apartments, sometimes stopping to watch.

That warmth, Tina said, should be a binding experience in the city. It infuriates her when she hears another tale of young men killing each other over neighborhood boundaries. She knows thousands of families in Syracuse came here from the South in the decades after World War II, and many -- once they arrived -- had a mutual beginning:

Public housing.

Jameel Rahim Shareef: His warmest childhood memories involve playing with old friends, near his front door at Pioneer Homes.Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com

"I've lived all over Pioneer Homes, and I grew up in Central Village," Tina said. "If I was blind, I'd know my way around here. All my friends were here; the common root, the stem, goes right back to here. If these kids from the East Side, the West Side, if they really sat down and talked, they'd know they all came from the same stew in the same pot, and that's Central Village and Pioneer Homes."

Friday, about 700 people who embrace that understanding will celebrate shared history at the Oncenter.

For Jameel, it will be another piece of a goodbye. At SU, he is majoring in communications and rhetorical studies. He wants to be a football analyst, and he's already contributed to several national blogs. That goal explains why he and his mother have made what they both call a bittersweet decision:

After Jameel graduates, they're moving to Georgia. Jameel thinks going there might accelerate his career, while Tina dreams of helping fellow cancer survivors. They see it as an exciting moment in their lives, but they're also wistful about saying farewell to neighbors they've loved and trusted for many years.

"There's a lot of people I don't want to let down," said Jameel, who in that sense will never totally leave Pioneer Homes.

Sean Kirst is a columnist with The Post-Standard. Write to him in care of The Post-Standard, 220 S. Warren St., Syracuse 13202, read more of his work at www.syracuse.com/kirst, email him at skirst@syracuse.com or send him a message on Facebook or Twitter.